Collapsible boat



April 15, 1958 L. w. GREEN 2,830,308

COLLAPSIBLE BOAT Filed Oct. 17, 1955 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 FIG. B.

INVENTOR LELAND W. GREEN ATTORNEYS April 15, 1958 w. GREEN 2,830,308

COLLAPSIBLE BOAT Filed Oct. 17, 1955 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 f F|G.5.

INVE'NTOR LELAND W. GREEN 52 Hi, I

"I! 50 ATTORNEYS United Stat Paten COLLAPSIBLE BOAT V Leland W. Green,Malibu, Calif.

-Application October 17, 1955, Serial No. 541,004

6 Claims. or. 9-2

h This invention has to do with collapsible or foldable oats.

' An object of the invention is to provide a novel and improvedcollapsible or foldable boat of simple construction.

- Another object is to provide such a boat which is easy to collapse orto expand and make ready for use and which can be readily handled by oneperson.

A further object is to provide a collapsible boat which can be folded toa substantially fiat condition for storage or transport.

A particular object is to provide a collapsible boat of few partsembodying only two main hull members which together form the sides andbottom of the hull. In this connection it is an object to provide aconstruction wherein a pair of sheet-like members of novel constructionare designed to form the sides and bottom of a hull having a curvedforward portion with the sides and bottom thereof blending together anda rear portion having relatively flat side and bottom portions disposedat a substantial angle to each other.

'A further object is to provide a collapsible boat in which seatelements form the principal means for bracing the hull against collapse.

, Still another object is to provide a collapsible boat which is stablein the water.

These and other objects will be apparent from the drawings and thefollowing description. Referring to the, drawings,,which areillustrative of one form the invention may take:

Fig. 1 is a side elevational view of a boat embodying the inventionshown in expanded position ready for use;

Fig. 2 is a plan view of the boat of Fig. l;

Fig. 3 isan elevational view of the stern of the boat, on a somewhatlarger scale;

Fig. 4 is an enlarged sectional view on line 4--4 of Fig. 1;

Figs. 5, 6,, and 7 are sectional views on lines 5-5, 6-6, and 7 7,respectively, of Fig. 1;

Fig. 5A is an enlarged view of the lower portion of Fig. 5;

Fig. 8 is a perspective view of collapsed;

Fig. 9 is a side elevational View of the collapsed boat;

Fig. 10 is'an enlarged sectional view on line 10-40 of Fig. 6; a

Fig. 11 is a fragmentary sectional view on a larger scale on line 1111of Fig. 10; and

Fig. ,12, isan enlarged fragmentary exploded perspective view of a'seatsupport bracket and latch.

More particularly describing the invention, in the drawings I show aboat 10 embodying my invention. A major. feature of the invention is theprovision of only two main hull members, designated 11, 11A, which to-'gether form substantially the entire hull, namely'the bow, sides andbottom thereof. It is also a feature of the invention that these twohull members are so contructed and arranged that the hull can bepartially of the boat partially Patented Apr. 1 5,- .1958

the rounded type with the sides and bottom merging and partially ofeither the flat bottom or V-bottom type as will laterappear. I a p Thetwo members 11 and 11Aare complementary and may be of any suitable,stiffly flexible, waterproof material. Marine plywood is one example ofsuch a material and reinforced plastic sheeting, another. Each memberhas an upper or top edge 12, which may be slightly convex as shown, astraight bottom or lower edge 13, and a straight forward edge 14, thelatter-being inclined forwardly somewhat from bottom to top. Each memberalso has a rear edge which is-divided intotwo sections, 15A and 153, bya slit or line of parting, in-

' dicated by 17, which extends from the rear edge forward to a pointabout half the length of the member, the-slit preferably being inclinedforwardly and downwardly somewhat toward the bottom edge of the member.

The two main hull members 11 and 11A are hingedly connected along theirlower edges and along their forward edges. As shown in Figs. 4-7, Iprefer to provide a composite keel formed of an inner strip 20 and anouter strip 21 between the lower edges of the hull members 11, 11A.Members 20 and 21 are secured together by screws (not shown). Hinges 22are spaced along the member 20 and the portions of the members 11, 11Amarginal thereto. Between the forward edges 14 of the hull members 11,11A I provide a strip 23 with hinges 24 therealong attached to the hullmembers. I also hingedly connect the portions of each of the hullmembers marginal to the lines of parting 17, hinges 2S being shown forthe purpose.

At the stern of the boat I provide a transom means which includes twocomplementary transom members 27 and 27A which are hingedly connectedalong their inner edges 28 as by hinges-29 for inward hinging' movementin the direction shown in Fig. 8. Below edges 28 are outwardly inclinededges 28' onthe transom members defining an inverted V. Each of thetransom members is hingedly connected along its lower edge'30 to a mainhull member of the boat from the line of parting thereof 17substantially to the lower or bottom edge 13 thereof by a continuoushinge 31. As best seen in-Fig. 3, the transom members are each providedwith an outer edge 32 disposed'to form an' angle with the lower edge 30which is somewhat greater than and considerably less than With thisconstruction, when the mem bers 11 and 11A are secured to the transommeans, they provide a relatively flat, V-bottom hull from about thecenter of the boat to the stern.. Forward of the lines of parting 17,the hill is rounded with the sides and bottom merging. Suitable latchmembers 34 may be provided for detachably securing the transom members"to the sides of the boat and a central latch 35 may be providedon arear seat member 59 to latch the same to the transom members.

All scams or joints between members forming the hull of the boat andincluding portions adjacent the lines of parting 17 of the members 11and 11A are sealed against the entrance of water, and this may beaccomplished by providing flexible sealing stripping therefor, indicatedby 40, formed of any one of a variety of materials. A tough fabricimpregnated with synthetic rubber is suitable. The sealing stripping canbe secured by a waterproof bonding material and may be additionallysecured by means of mounting strips 42 which are secured by means ofscrews or rivets (not shown). It will be ap parent that in order topermit folding of the boat to collapsed position, such as shown in Fig.9, the sealing strip- At about the center of the boat hull I a foldableseat, designated 45, made up of the complementary members 46 and 46A,each of which is hinged at its outeredge portion to one of themembers 11and 11A. The seat members are also hingedly connected at their inneredge portions as by hinges48, in a manner" to permit of their beingfolded inwardly as shown in Fig. 8 when the boat is collapsed. For thepurpose of supporting the seat members in alignment with each other sothat they may serve as a seat to support a load and also as a brace forthe sides of the hull, I provide a post '50,

best shown in Figs. 6, 10 and 11, which is hingedly.

mounted at its lower end to the keel member 20 and resiliently urgedupwardly by a torsion spring 51. The

post carries a forwardly projecting tongue 52' which is,

received in the bracket elements 54, 54' mounted on the scat members andpresenting oppositelydisp osed recesses 55, 55 for receiving the tongue.With the tongue in position in the bracket elementspthe seatelements arefirmly secured against bothupwar'd'and downward move ment.

In addition to the center seat 45, I provide two other seats, one in thebow of the boat, indicated by 58, and the other at the stern, designated59. Each of these seats is detachably secured in place by a latch61 ateach end secured thereto which cooperates with a bracket 62 mounted onthe hull member of the boat. The bracket includes a shelf 63 (Fig. 12)for supporting the seat member. Each latch includes a pair of projectingpins 64 for reception in apertured ears 65 on the bracket, the pinsbeing operated by knobs 66 projecting through slots in the body of thedevice.

The rear seat is so positioned that its rear edge 68 abuts the twotransom members thereby serving to brace themagainst inward deflection,while the latch 35 locks the transom members to the seat andagainst'outward movement. I v

The-three seat membersjwhen. secured in place serve to brace the hull aswell as. to: provide 'seatingsp'ace for occupants of the boat. f Itwill. be apparent that the seat members 58 and 59 are readily removedfrom the bo'at to permit the. collapse thereof and that the center seat45 can be readily collapsed by pivotallymoving the supporting postdownwardly to the bottom *of the boat. It will also be apparent that ,Ihav'e provided a cons-tructionwherein two main hull members can be usedto form the bottom and sides of: a boat in whichthe" forward portion ,ofthe hull maybe described as being of rounded shape, such' thatthelsidesand bottom merge without any clear line of demarcation and yethave the rear portion of the hull with the sides and the bottom portionsclearly separate and at a distinct angle one to the other such that thesides and bottom portions form a're'lativelysliallow V-bottomg Thisis'accomplished by providing the slits *or lines of parting'in the twomain side "elements and by choosing a transom means 'suchthat thedesiredshape is obtained, In this connection it will be apparent that I cangreatly vary the shape of the stern portion of the. boat by varying theshape of the transom I members thereby to provide either aJflatbottomedboat toward the rear ofthe hull, a V-bottom boat of"desired angle, or even an inverted V-bottom.

.The boat. may be readily collapsed to a substantially flat condition asshown in Fig. 9 by removing the seats 58 and 59, removing the securingmeans for the transom members, such as the latches 34 and 35, andhinging post 50 downwardly to permit the center seat 45 to hinge A aused between the transom and adjacent parts of the hull and also atother points if desired. i I

Although I have illustrated and described a preferred form of myinvention, I contemplate that various changes and modifications can bemade therein without departing from the invention, the scope of which isindicated by the following claims.

1. In a collapsible boat, a pair of complementary, stifily flexible,main hull members of sheet material forming the bow, sides and bottom ofthehull, means hingedly securing said members to each other along theirbottom and front edge portions, said members each having a line ofparting betweenitstop and bottom edges extending forwardly from the rearedge a substantial but limited distance, hinge means on said membersalong each of said lines of parting, transom means between said membersat their rear edge portions, said transom means comprising twocomplementary transom panels in a common plane hingedly connected attheir inner and adjacentedges and hingedly mounted at their lower edgeportions to the rear edge portions of said sheet members from the linesof parting thereof inwardly toward the center of the hull, flexiblewatertight seal means along the forward, bottom and rear edge portionsand along the lines of parting of said members and along the side andbottom edge portions of said transom means, and means bracing saidmembers and said transom to hold the same against collapse. 7

2. In a collapsible boat, a pair of complementary, stifily flexiblesheet members, hinge means joining said members at their forward edgesand along their bottom edges, each of said sheet members having a lineof parting extending from its rear edge forwardly a substatial portionof the length of said member, means on each sheet member along its lineof parting hingedly connecting the adjacent portions of the sheetmember, transom means between said sheet members at their rear edgeportions, said transom means having a pair of outer side edges eachsubstantially corresponding in length to the width of the portion of asheet member at its rear edge from the upper edge to its line of partingand having a bottom edge means between all adjacent portions of saidsheet memhers and said transom means, said transom means having accntrah; vertical parting line dividing. the sameinto two panels, hingemeans connecting said panels along said vertical parting line, and hingemea'ns connecting the bot-tom edge portion of each panelito the adjacentrear edge portion of its adjacent sheet member.

3. In a collapsible boat, a pair of complementary stiffiy flexible sheetmembers, hinge means joining said members at their forwardv edges andalong their bottom edges, each of said sheet members having a line ofparting extending from its rear edge forwardly a, substantial proportionof the length of said member, means on each sheet member along its lineof parting hingedly connecting the adjacent portions of the sheetmember, transom means between said sheet members at their rear edgeportions, said transom means comprising a pair of complementary membershingedly connected at their inner edges, said members each having a sideedge substantially corresponding in length'to the width of the portionof a -sheet memher at its rear edge portion from the upper edge to theline of parting and having a bottom edge formingan obtuse angle withsaid side edge and substantially corresponding in length to the width ofthe remaining portion of a sheet of said transom members along itsbottom edge portion to a sheet member adjacent its rear edge portioninwardly toward the center of the boat from the line of parting of theside member. V

4. A collapsible boat as set fol-thin claini 3 in which the inner edgesof said complementary members of said tranmember, and means hingedlysecuring each som means diverge from a point above the lower end thereofto the lower end and are hingedly connected only above said point.

5. In a collapsible boat having side and bottom wall means normallydefining a pair of side walls and a pair of bottom walls angularlydisposed relative to the side walls, said wall means being adapted tofold flat with one side and bottom wall as a unit against the other sideand bottom wall as a unit, transom means comprising a pair of panelsextending in a common plane between said side walls, means hingedlyconnecting said panels at their inner adjacent edges for foldinginwardly of said side walls, means hingedly connecting the lower edgeportions of said panels to the bottom walls, respectively, and meansdetachably securing said panels against hinged movement.

6. In a collapsible boat, transom means as set forth in claim 5 in whichthe inner edges of said panels are relieved at the lower ends and belowthe hinge means connecting them leaving a triangular-shaped spacebetween said panels and said bottom walls whereby said panels may befolded inwardly of the boat when the same is collapsed.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS568,255 Hutchings Sept. 22, 1896 2,332,259 Reuther Oct. 19, 19432,346,081 Randrup Apr. 4, 1944 2,504,225 Randrup Apr. 18, 1950 FOREIGNPATENTS 20,583 Great Britain Oct. 6, 1914 300,366 Great Britain Nov. 15,1928 Great Britain May 11, 1933

